No, dynos are not free.
Previously, Heroku offered free dynos, but as of November 28th, 2022, this is no longer the case. This change means that Heroku has stopped providing free dynos, along with free hobby-dev Heroku Postgres and hobby-dev Heroku Data for Redis plans. If you were relying on these free options, your applications will no longer run without upgrading to a paid plan.
Heroku's Change to Paid Dynos
The termination of free dynos is a significant change for developers who used Heroku's free tier for learning or hobby projects. The move from free to paid has resulted in several changes:
- Conversion of free dynos: Existing free dynos were converted to eco dynos and then scaled down to 0.
- Requirement of a paid plan: To keep an application running, users now need to subscribe to the Eco plan or upgrade to another paid Heroku plan.
- Impact on free databases: The free Heroku Postgres and Heroku Data for Redis databases have also been discontinued.
Dyno Pricing Options
To use Heroku dynos now, you need to choose a paid plan. The following table provides a quick overview of your options:
| Plan | Description | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| Eco | A basic paid plan, suitable for small applications. | Small projects, personal sites, learning, non-critical applications. |
| Basic | A more robust option, suitable for medium to high-traffic applications. | Business projects, production applications, and high-traffic sites. |
| Professional | Scalable and enterprise-ready plan with advanced features. | Large-scale projects, demanding applications, and high-availability needs. |
This transition makes Heroku a purely paid service, requiring a subscription for any application deployment.
